Pricing, Profits, and Payment Plans with Richard Formoe

podcast richard formoe Feb 25, 2021

Have you ever put yourself in your client’s shoes? Your client’s personal experience may be something you’re not used to or even aware of. Recent surveys show a miscommunication between what clients want and what lawyers think their clients want. How can we bridge that gap with payment plans?

In this episode, Richard Formoe joins us to talk about changing our model into flat-fee pricing. Richard also discusses how multiple payment plans can give power and transparency to clients. Making life easier for our clients should not harm our business. In fact, by making things convenient and affordable, we can drive up revenue and even save precious time!

If you want to know more about improving your pricing and payment plans, then this episode with Richard Formoe is for you.

Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode

Understand the basics of flat-fee pricing and multiple payment plans.
Discover how changes in payment plans can benefit both you and your clients.
Learn the different steps you can take to implement these ideas into your law firm.

Resources

This episode is sponsored by LawFundAR. The easy and simple way to add payment plans to your practice with no risk to you. Get paid up front and still add the value of payment plan options for your clients. Learn more at lawfundar.com/profitwithlaw.
This episode is sponsored by NOTA powered by M&T Bank. You went to law school to be a lawyer, not an accountant. Take advantage of Nota - a no-cost IOLTA management tool that helps solo and small law firms track client funds down to the penny. Enjoy peace of mind with one-click reconciliation, automated transaction alerts, and real-time bank data. Visit trustnota.com to learn more. Terms and conditions may apply.
This episode is sponsored by LegalEase Marketing. No buzzwords. No jargon. No B.S. Just results to make your law firm grow, that’s LegalEase Marketing. LegalEase Marketing is a full-service marketing agency for lawyers by legal experts and digital advertising specialists. Our goal? To help your firm stand out in a competitive marketplace with personalized solutions to help your law firm attract the clients you want backed by the systems to make it all work correctly. Visit profitwithlaw.com/legalease to learn more.
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Connect with Richard: LinkedIn | Email
QuickFee
LawFund AR
2020 Legal Trends Report from Clio. If you’re looking for highlights instead, access the summary here.
Miller IP Law
LegalZoom

Episode Highlights

How Richard Formoe Started at QuickFee

As Chief Revenue Officer, Richard Formoe helped QuickFee go public on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Richard has worked in the financial technology industry for over 10 years.
After being deployed to Iraq in 2010, Richard worked at Preferred Lease and fell in love with giving consumers multiple payment options.
QuickFee started around one year ago and has now grown to a large team of 75.
Listen to the full episode to learn how QuickFee started to focus on legal firms.

Relevance of Payment Plans

The podcast has always advocated for flat-fee pricing done in different phases.
Richard Formoe notes that consumers typically are not aware of options.

Richard Formoe: “If you start with a flat fee arrangement, you'll see more success out of the gate.”

When you create and advertise these flat-fee packages, it helps attract new consumers.

Richard Formoe: “73% of attorneys said that they used online payment solutions just this year alone. 96% want to continue accepting online payments after pandemic ends. However, only 40% of consumers believe that lawyers actually offer electronic payments at all.”

Finding the Sweet Spot

According to Richard, it will take some trial and error to get the sweet spot of the right payment and pricing plan for flat fee engagements.
One suggestion is to review old cases and find where flat fee pricing can be helpful.
Another is to test out some cap fees for basic services.
You can also restrict flat-fee pricing to productized services or prepackaged services.
Over time, keep modifying as needed. Listen to the full episode to hear Richard’s thoughts on improving your payment plans!

Moshe: “If you know that the key factors for somebody to make their decision on hiring an attorney is their ability to know that they can afford to pay it, then it's our duty to present ourselves in a way that we're addressing this.”

Profitability

When you can’t serve your clients with decreasing expenses, it will affect your profitability.
The traditional hourly model keeps the client and firm in conflict.
When you shift to the flat fee model for some services, you will open up the possibility of becoming more efficient.
You don't need to work on every single task to increase how much you can bill. Instead, you can pass tasks to lower-level staff.
Listen to the full episode for an in-depth discussion on keeping expenses low with the flat fee model!

The Next Barrier

Richard Formoe: “What do they think was the key to retaining clients and winning new businesses? And attorneys answered communication. They did the same exact survey to consumers that have used a law firm within the past year. And their answer was nowhere near communication, it was actually autonomy. They wanted a sense of autonomy.”

Clients want to feel in control over their financial situation.
We can give them this through flat-fee pricing and multiple payment options.
However, most attorneys think that the most critical factor for winning and keeping clients is still communication.
We need to let clients know that several options are available to them.
The industry is headed toward these changes — staying relevant is critical to survival.

Richard Formoe: “I think the biggest barrier is just letting clients know there's options — that's the biggest thing we find.”

Actions Toward Better Payment Plans

Create a dedicated payment or pricing page on your firm’s website.
Include different payment methods, and remember to add calls to action inside your marketing strategies.

Richard Formoe: “Every single invoice you send out should tell your clients their payment options. Every email you send out should have a make a payment button. Webpages, banners, simple table tents, or flyers. These are what your clients are asking for.”

Let your clients — both current and potential — know that they have options.
It's currently normal to pay through checks, but the Federal Reserve says that these will become obsolete by 2026.
Things are accelerating, and our firms need to keep up.

Richard Formoe: “If you're an attorney and you have a practice right now, the first thing you can do right away to make an immediate impact or immediate change that will ensure that you stay at the forefront of what the consumers are asking for.”

Make Life Easier for Your Clients

Richard Formoe: “...72% of every consumer that walks into a law firm would rather pay via a payment plan.”

One of the biggest worries for clients is how to pay for legal services.
You need to understand the client’s state of mind so you can accommodate their needs.
In addition to the hourly billing, it’s also standard to have retainers, but retainers can be more frustrating for clients to navigate.
You can address this by using payment plans instead.
How can we make it easier for our clients and ourselves? Listen to the full episode for Richard’s advice on how to make payment plans work.

QuickFee Installments

QuickFee's new product, called Advice Now, Pay Later, allows clients to leverage the existing availability on their credit card to pay monthly installments.
The advantages of this payment method include not tapping out your cash reserves and receiving credit card perks like points, reward miles, and even cashback, all while not paying interest.
There is a 5% fee on the money collected and is billed at the time of transaction.
Listen to the full episode for a breakdown of how QuickFee can help your firm!

About Richard

Richard Formoe is the Chief Revenue Officer at QuickFee (ASX: QFE) and Law Fund AR, a financial technology lending and payment provider. Richard helped lead the company from the pre-IPO stage to successfully listing it on the Australian Stock Exchange. Through his years of experience, Richard Formoe has worked globally on financial technology services, specializing in the payments sector. He is also a contributor to multiple fintech media outlets and a Forbes Business Development Council member.

QuickFee enables its clients to accept payments online through any channel. It also allows for a secure and seamless payment experience for end consumers. The company offers a list of comprehensive solutions, including electronic payment and funding solutions, including debit and credit card processing, ACH processing, financing, and installment plans. If you’re interested in improving your payment options, check out QuickFee for more information.

Have some questions for Richard Formoe? You can reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at [email protected].

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